Overtime changes the brain

This is not the first time science has linked long working hours to serious health consequences. According to a 2021 study, conducted jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization, overtime is responsible for more than 745,000 deaths per year. Long -term work also increases the risk of diabetes in women and can lead to a decrease in the ability to think. Although the psychological and behavioral consequences of overtime are already well known, brain level changes, especially anatomicals, have not been explored so far.

Overtime is not only exhausting but it can also have lasting consequences on your brain, according to a new study published in the journal Occupy and Inteurmal Medicine.
A study published last week found that « significant changes » were found in the brains of people who regularly work overtime. It is a combination of physical and emotional exhaustion, along with a chronic lack of rest.
The research was conducted by joint scientists from two South Korean University, Yang-Ang and Joncei, on a sample of 110 healthcare professionals, divided into two groups: those who work overtime and those who work regularly.
In South Korea, where the legal maximum is 52 hours a week, excessive work is a growing health problem.
In the overload group there were 32 respondents who worked 52 or more hours during the week. On average, they were younger, had shorter working conditions and a higher level of education than those who worked in standard jobs, CNN reported.
Using an advanced method of recording the brain, scientists analyzed the volume of gray matter in different parts of the brain and compared data to other studies and MRI-skirts.
They found that those who worked overtime experienced the most changes in the areas of the brain responsible for making decisions and emotional control. Among the parts of the brain that have increased in size are the middle frontal lobe, important for memory, attention and linguistic functions, as well as insulated, which is involved in the processing of emotions, self -awareness and understanding of social relations.
Researchers believe that there is a clear link between overloading and these changes in the brain, which could be the basis for the mental and cognitive problems reported by people who work too much.
Jun Jul Joey, one of the authors and assistant professor of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Joncei University, told CNN that these changes could partially be canceled if the source of stress was removed, but that returning to its original state could take.

This is not the first time science has linked long working hours to serious health consequences. According to a 2021 study, conducted jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization, overtime is responsible for more than 745,000 deaths per year. Long -term work also increases the risk of diabetes in women and can lead to a decrease in the ability to think.
Although the psychological and behavioral consequences of overtime are already well known, brain level changes, especially anatomicals, have not been explored so far.
WHO’s Frank Pega, who conducted the aforementioned research of 2021, says the results of this latest study are « important new evidence » of how excessive work directly affects workers’ physical health.
Pega, who was not involved in this study, adds that the findings confirm that long working hours are the « largest individual risk factor » among all professional dangers identified so far.
However, given the small size of the sample and the fact that the study is conducted exclusively among Korea’s health professionals, the results cannot be automatically applied to the wider population.
« Further research is needed for different groups of workers, » Pega said. Despite this, the authors of the study say their findings are an important first step in understanding the impact of overloading work on brain health.
« These results further confirm that overloading should be treated as a serious public health problem, » the authors conclude, stressing the importance of laws and regulations that limit overtime.
Johnny Gifford, a researcher at the British Institute for Employment Studies, says the results of the study « give a strong physiological basis for the claim that overtime is harmful to our health. »
« With the scan of the brain and specific neurological indicators, there is strong evidence that overtime is causing physical changes in the parts of the brain that are crucial to making decisions and managing emotions, » Gifford said.
He added that « if this is a relatively small study, its findings are very relevant because they relate to mechanisms such as stress and fatigue that can affect everyone. »

Dragana Shubarevic

(Policy)